For anthony, bob, claude, claudia, dennis, edward, geoffrey, kei, kwame, linton, lorna, malachi, marcus, mervyn, mutabaruka, olive, opal, pamela, peter, velma, winston�with appreciation. One day the stripe approached me, speaking creole, a scar scrawled across its face like the pain of a cotton field, on this island anchored by the weight of lives. We spoke with eyes, voices, song, too, and a sense of mirth, mirth that� colourful as we are, ate by razorblades of cane leaves, the dark of our parents' skins brought rage here from Africa in hurricane and storm boats, which makes us even�even though the sun is yellow again and this tavern at the edge of our overhanging coastline smiles at the world, the old as well as the new, the weighty, the light, the forgotten dead; though Bolt be running wild. Who knew we would meet among trees this island planted tight, its mangroves relaxing in the village shade like Africans at a gathering in Africa? Ziggy is not as tall as his dad, but the voc